Snaking its way through the Pennsylvania legislature is a
bill that will block local governments from requiring companies to provide sick
leave, even if unpaid, that is more than required by state or federal
regulations.

There are no Pennsylvania or federal regulations requiring
companies to provide sick leave. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 39
percent of all employees, and 79 percent of all employees in food service and
hotel industries, have no sick leave. Unlike the United States, about 130
countries require employers to provide at least one week of sick leave per
employee.

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The Republican-controlled state Senate passed the bill,
37--12; the Republican-controlled House will now discuss it--and probably follow
the Senate's wishes.

Gov. Tom Wolf opposes this legislation, will probably veto
it, and then have to deal with a Senate that has enough votes to override that
veto.

The proposed legislation is in response to Philadelphia's
recent directive that requires companies with at least 10 employees to provide
mandatory sick leave for its workers. Several metropolitan U.S. cities, as well
as California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, already require companies to
provide sick leave to employees.

Republicans are hypocritically philosophically conflicted
on the legislation. Their party believes in limited government regulation, and
this bill would keep government out of private enterprise's believed-right to
treat workers as serfs. However, Republicans also believe that, if necessary,
government should be at the lowest political level, and municipal government is
about as low as it can get. Thus, cities should be able to impose rules and
requirements in the absence of state and federal law.

Most legislators don't understand political philosophy.
What they understand is political donations. In this case, the business
community opposes sick leave policies, believing corporate executives know
better than workers or governments what's best for the workers. As is the case
for their opposition to raising minimum wage, it is because sick leave, somehow
in their warped minds, reduces profits, shareholder dividends, and executive
bonuses, benefits, and compensations.

The pretend-savings to preserve corporate greed, however,
is a false economy. By not providing a decent sick leave policy, companies risk
employees coming to work sick in order not to lose a day's pay--or be fired.

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This can lead to increased accidents because workers may
be too ill to perform their jobs adequately.

The absence of a sick leave program can also lead a
worker with a communicable disease to spread it to other workers and to the
public. About 68 percent of all employees report they came to work with a stomach
virus and other communicable diseases, according to a poll conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the
University of Chicago.

About 30 percent of all workers said they became ill
because of communicable diseases spread by fellow workers, according to the
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Not having adequate sick leave also can result in workers
not staying home to care for sick children who, without anyone to care for
them, go to school sick, and cause illnesses in other students, staff, and
teachers.

Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of journalism emeritus. His current books are Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution , America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of (more...)